Matthew Desmond is a sociologist renowned for his work on poverty, housing, and eviction in the United States. As the Maurice P. During Professor of Sociology at Princeton University, he also serves as the Principal Investigator of the Eviction Lab, a research team studying eviction's causes and consequences.

Desmond's academic journey commenced with a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 2010, which led to a Junior Fellowship at the Harvard Society of Fellows. His research spans several areas, including urban sociology, poverty, race and ethnicity, work and organizations, social theory, and ethnography.

Author of over fifty academic studies and several influential books, Desmond's notable works include On the Fireline: Living and Dying with Wildland Firefighters (2007) and Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City (2016), the latter of which garnered the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, National Book Critics Circle Award, Carnegie Medal, and PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction. Evicted was also featured as one of the Best Books of 2016 by multiple prestigious outlets.

In addition to his books, Desmond has edited the inaugural issue of RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences and contributed essays and studies on a variety of social issues. His work has appeared in top academic journals and he has been recognized for his contributions with a MacArthur “Genius” grant in 2015 and election to the American Philosophical Society in 2022.

Desmond's insights extend beyond academia, as he is a Contributing Writer for The New York Times Magazine. His dedication to social science and urban ethnography continues to shed light on the struggles of the urban poor and the systemic issues contributing to poverty and eviction.